Lubricator



' J..OLARK. LUBRICATOR.

(No Model.)

No. 499,011. Patented June 6, 1893.

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, Wot/268866 fitter/26g.

UNITED STATES PATE T OFFICE.

JOSEPH CLARK, OF SAGINAW, MICHIGAN.

LUBRICATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 499,011, dated June 6, 1893.

Application filed March 11, 189 3- To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JosEPH CLARK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Saginaw, in the county of Saginaw and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lubricators; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in lubricators, and particularly to improvements in that class thereof which employ a gravity sight feed, and are especially adapted to lubricate the bearing surfaces for the wrist pins of engines, and it consists in the construction and arrangement of parts which will be hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In United States Letters Patent No. 465,344, granted to me on December 15, 1891, I have described and claimed a lubricator, the principal feature of which is the employment of a slotted, hollow sphere, directly attached by means of a hollow delivery pipe to the reciprocating cross-head in such a position that oil passing through said delivery pipe will reach the parts to be lubricated, as the ultimate receptacle for the lubricating oil before it passes to the Wrist pin, the said lubricant being delivered to said hollow sphere by means of a suitably located discharge pipe, connected by intermediate pipes to the oil supply cup, and

held by suitable means, adj ustably attached to the guides of the crosshead, in the path of the reciprocating crosshead, since during each reciprocation of the crosshead, a wiping device secured in the hollow sphere is made to engage the outlet end of said delivery pipe. The current of air due to the rapid movement of the reciprocating crosshead assists the natural gravital tendency of the oil, thus deposited in the sphere, to flow downward to the parts requiring lubrication, and thus a perfectly uniform lubrication of the wrist pin is effected, while spattering of the lubricating oil through the engine room is avoided. In said patent, while claiming broadly a wiping device, I describe and illustrate a metallic wiper.

In the actual use of my lubricator, I have found that while any spattering of the oil outering the oil to the hollow sphere.

$erial No. 465,566. (No model.)

side of the hollow sphere is cfiectually pre vented by the use of the same, an unnecessary amount of spattering inside of said sphere takes place which it is advantageous to avoid, especially with high speed engines. I have also found thata simpler and less complicated system of delivery pipesforconducting the oil to the discharge pipe delivering the same to the hollow sphere can be used with entire success with some types of engines, than was described in said patent.

The objects of my present invention are, first, to providea more efficient wiping device inside of the hollow sphere; and, second, to lessen the number of parts intermediate between the oil supply cup, and the pipe deliv- These objects I accomplish by the use of awipermade of some absorbent, yielding material, such as felt, Wicking, or leather, removably held in place in the hollow sphere between two metallic split tubes in such a position as to engage the outlet end of the delivery pipe before mentioned; and by the use of a spherical drip chamber, held in position over the path of the reciprocating crosshead by means of a suitable bracket, adjustably secured to one of the crosshead guides, as the means of connection between the oil supply cup and the pipe delivering the oil to the wiping device in the hollow sphere, a series of apertures around the surface of said sphericaldrip chamber securing the sight feed which is a feature of my invention.

My invention is fully illustrated in the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this application, in which the same reference numerals refer to the same orcorresponding parts, and in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of my lubricator attached to ahorizontal engine. Fig. 2 is a detail, sectional view of the hollow sphere, the wiping device, and the means for securing the same in position, showing also the end of the deliverypipe engaging with the wiping device. Fig. 3 is aview of my lubricating device as adapted for use on engines having vertical crossheads. Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of the wiping device.

Referring to the drawings, 1 represents the crosshead of the engine, which reciprocates between the guides 2. 3 is the connecting rod ICO of the engine. The wrist pin, which it is the object of my invention to lubricate, is not shown in the drawings, being hidden by the guides of the crosshead,but its position is indicated by the lower delivery pipe 4, which is attached to the crosshead in such a manner as to deliver the oil passing through the same to the bearing surfaces of the wrist pin, and which bearsonits upperendtheslotted,hollow sphere 5. The oil supply cup 6 is suspended directly over the path of the cross-head by the spherical drip chamber 7, which is tapped on its upper surface to admit of such connection, and on one side to provide for the pipe fit ting 8. The pipe fitting 8 is held in position by the pipe length 9, which is screwed into the bracket 10, attached to one of the guides of the crosshead. The position of the bracket 10 on the crosshead guide can be readily altered, so that a complete adjustment of the spherical drip chamber and the parts attached thereto with reference to the hollow sphere can be readily effected. The oil supply cup 6 is of any ordinary construction, and delivers the oil at a rate easily regulated to the spherical drip chamber '7, which is tapped at a point opposite the connection of said supply cup for the reception of the delivery pipe 11, which I call, in distinction from the delivery pipe connected to the crosshead, the upper delivery pipe, a strainer of wire gauze or other suitable material being provided at the mouth of said delivery pipe so that no impurities of the atmosphere, such as dirt, coal dust, &c., can enter the same. Around the surface of the drip chamber are a number of apertures, through which the rate of flow of the oil can be observed. I secure by the use of this drip chamber a sight feed much preferable to those now customarily employed, as the apertures in the sphere are not covered with glass, and therefore do not require constant cleaning. The delivery pipe 11 is bent so as to be in line with the path of the reciprocating crosshead 1, and is so inclined that there will be no pocket formed in which oil can collect. For use with horizontal crossheads, the said pipe is bent horizontally, so that it will enter the sphere through the slot in the same when the crosshead is at one extreme end of its movement, but for use on engines having vertical crossheads, the end of the said pipe is bent vertically, as shown in Fig. 3.

The wiping device, situated in the hollow sphere 5, is formed as follows: The upper end of the lower delivery pipe 4 is chambered for a portion of its length, so as to form a collar 15, against which the split metallic tube 14 may rest. The said tube 14 projects up into the interior of the hollow sphere a portion of its length, and between it, and the split metallic tube 13 the absorbent Wiper, made of felt, wicking, leather, or other suitable material, is secured in such a position as to engage the outlet end of the upper delivery pipe during each reciprocation of the crosshead. By the use of an absorbent wiper, I avoid all spattering inside of the hollow sphere, and secure a much more efficient wiping action. The pipe 4 does not screw up flush with the inner surface of the hollow sphere 5, but an annular space 16 is left between the top of said pipe and the inner surface of said sphere, in which oil may collect, and pass downward through the open slde of the split tubes 13 and 14.

The operation of my lubricating device 18 as follows:Oil from the oil supply cup 6 drops down into the drip chamber 7, the rate of its flow being capable of being observed through the openings in said chamber. It then passes through the gauze strainer in the mouth of the upper delivery pipe 11, and collects on the end of the same. When thecrosshead reaches one extreme of its reciprocation, it will cause the wiping device secured in the hollow sphere to engage with the end of the said delivery pipe 11, and the drop of oil on the end of the said pipe will be deposited on the Wick 12. This action will be repeated at each reciprocation of the crosshead, the oil collecting in the annular space 16, and then flowing down through the lower delivery pipe 4 to the bearing surfaces of the wrist pin, it being aided in such descent by the current of ailfcaused by the rapid movement of the crosshead.

In Fig. 3 I have shown a modification of my lubricatingdevice adapted for use on engines having vertically moving crossheads. In this form, the hollow sphere, is so placed on the delivery pipe 4 that the slot in the same is uppermost, and also the delivery pipe 11 is formed with a double bend, so that at one stage of the reciprocation of thecrosshead, the said delivery pipe will enter the sphere from above, and deposit the oil on the wiping device. In the construction shown in this figure, the wiping device is located on the side of the sphere, an interior annular lug being formed on the inner surface of the same, which is tapped for the reception of the screw threaded pipe 20, which acts in the same manner that the outer split metallic tube 14 in Fig. 1 acts. A second split tube 21 holds the wick 12 in place.

While I have described and illustrated my lubricator as applied to the lubrication of the wrist pins of engines, I do not confine myself to that use, but

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a lubricator, the combination with an oil discharge cup and an upper discharge pipe, of a lower discharge pipe having a slotted hollow sphere at its upper end and an absorbent wiping device removably secured within said sphere, which is arranged to engage the outlet end of said upper discharge pipe, substantially as described.

2. In a lubricator, the combination with an oil-discharge cup and an upper discharge pipe, of a lower discharge pipe having a slotted hol- IIO 7 low sphere at its upper end, and an absorbent wiping device secured by means of metallic springs within said sphere, which is arranged to engage the outlet end of said discharge pipe, substantially as described.

3. In a lubricator, the combination with an oil discharge cup and an upper discharge pipe, of a lower discharge pipe having its upper end chambered and having a slotted hollow sphere on its upper end and metallic split tubes for entering said chambered end and holding an absorbent wiper in position to engage the outlet end of said upper discharge pipe, substantially as described.

4. In a lubricator, the combination with an oil discharge cup and an upper discharge pipe, of a lower discharge pipe having its upper end chambered, and having a slotted hollow sphere at its upper end, metallic split tubes for entering said chambered end and holding an absorbent wiping device in position to engage the outlet end of said upper discharge pipe, and the annular cavity 16, wherein the oil may collect inside of the sphere, substantially as described.

5. In a lubricator, the combination with an oil discharge cup, and a spherical drip chamber having a series of apertures in its surface intermediate between said discharge cup and an upper discharge pipe, and an upper dis- 3o charge pipe, of a lower discharge pipe having a slotted hollow sphere at its upper end, and

an absorbent wiping device removably secured within said sphere, and arranged toengage the outlet end of said discharge pipe, substantially as described.

6. The combination with a reciprocating crosshead, having attached to the same an oil delivery pipe, of a slotted, hollow sphere fastened to the upper end of said 011 delivery pipe and having removably secured therein an absorbent wiping device, and an oil delivery pipe connected to the oil discharge cup and held by means fixed to one of the crosshead-guides in the path of the reciprocat ng crosshead, said pipe being capable of being engaged by the wiping device in the hollow sphere at each reciprocation of the crosshead, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aflix my s1 gnature in presence of two witnesses.

JOSEPH CLARK.

Witnesses:

THOMAS CLARK, J OHN CHEESBRO. 

